Questions and answers

Question reference: S6O-01648

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the current devolution settlement has led to a position in which Scotland is considered an equal partner.

Question reference: S6O-01602

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how measures set out in the NHS Recovery Plan will support innovation and capacity in diagnostics for thrombosis.

Question reference: S6O-01539

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Angus Robertson on 10 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it will work with the gaming industry to help promote and grow the sector, in light of the recently held first ever Scottish Games Week.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate all those involved in making Scottish Games Week a hugely successful event.

Scotland has a rich history in the gaming industry and we are proud to have funded Scottish Games Week through the Scottish Government’s Start-up Ecosystem Fund.

That said, we believe gaming has more to offer to the Scottish economy in the years to come. Game developers have shown that their skills and creativity can be applied much more widely, delivering innovative solutions to help solve problems in other areas such as education and healthcare. That is why our Chief Entrepreneur, Mark Logan, is engaging closely with sector leaders to explore opportunities to catalyse the sector’s growth, including how it can benefit from our £42m investment in a new network of tech-scalers – world-class environments to start and scale new companies.

Question reference: S6O-01413

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the proposals for the Rural Visa Pilot.

Question reference: S6O-01354

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what support is being provided to assist those veterans, predominately women, who have been victims of military sexual trauma whilst on duty.

Question reference: S6W-10271

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2022
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 August 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress made towards its plans to remove the majority of diesel buses from public transport by 2023.

The Scottish Government has been working with the other members of our Bus Decarbonisation Taskforce over the past year to co-design a pathway to zero emission buses. The Pathway will be published tomorrow, 10 August, alongside case studies of good practice in decarbonising bus fleets. The pathway sets out a shared approach between Transport Scotland and the key sectors represented on the taskforce (bus operating, manufacturing, energy, finance and public sector), that, by working together, we will achieve a future where all buses in Scotland are zero-emission buses; people enjoy travelling on buses knowing that doing so is one of the most sustainable travel and climate friendly choices they can make; there is an even stronger and diverse domestic manufacturing sector and supply-chain comprised of high-quality skilled jobs; and that after an important period of support, the Government has ceased subsidising zero-emission buses.

Since December 2020, over the lifetime of the Taskforce, Scottish Government has invested £113 million capital (and committed £21 million resource subsidy over a 5 year period), and leveraged in a similar sum from the private sector, to acquire 548 new battery electric buses and associated charging infrastructure for operation in Scotland. Those companies that have taken the lead can rightly be proud of their ambition and achievements. Our clear signal of high aspiration, given in the 2021 Programme for Government, has been successful in driving progress, as the proportion of zero emission buses in Scotland is approximately 3 times higher than those in England. As with every other part of the economy and society, delivery of further progress has been slowed by the pandemic, and Brexit is also causing supply chain issues and delays in investment decisions. The Taskforce also identified the need to adapt the approach to ensure that smaller operators can benefit and participate in the decarbonisation programme.

To enable delivery of the Pathway, the Scottish Government is also announcing today a second phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund in 2023. Ahead of that, to support SME and rural bus operators be in the best possible position to benefit from that funding, a new £500,000 Zero Emission Bus Market Transition Scheme will open on 10 August.

The Zero Emission Bus Market Transition Scheme will fund:

a) Small bus operators, to assess which zero-emission technology is best for them and how it can be implemented;

b) development of collaborations across the operating, manufacturing, energy and finance sectors to bring scaled up, innovative bids to ScotZEB Phase 2 that will alter the market and bring in more private financing;

c) demonstration of the potential role that repowering of older diesel buses can play in the transition, recognising that repowering may be a more cost-effective option for SME operators, and may create additional green jobs in Scotland.

In a further positive development, eligibility for the Transition Scheme and ScotZEB Phase 2 will be expanded to support providers of home-to-school, community-to-healthcare, community bus services, and SME coach operators, in addition to public service bus operators. This will help ensure that those least able to pay for the transition to net-zero are supported, and benefit from the transition and that we progress faster and further to decarbonising bus and coach travel in Scotland and ensure that buses play a key role in providing sustainable, net zero travel in the future.

Question reference: S6O-01289

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the possible impact on its legislative programme of the UK Government’s proposed Brexit Freedoms Bill.

Question reference: S6O-01247

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide an update on the reopening of the Scottish Parliament crèche.

Question reference: S6O-01149

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 26 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update regarding the implementation of the powers in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 that make provision for allowing local authorities to run their own bus services from July.

As I said in March, we are committed to delivering the powers under section 34 of the 2019 Act before the summer recess to enable local authorities to run their own bus services in a way that they see fit within the wider context of their obligations. This power sits alongside their existing ability to subsidise services. We intend to deliver that commitment and are currently working with local transport authorities on the development of an information note to help implement the provision.

Question reference: S6O-01109

Asked by: Natalie Don-Innes, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 19 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its latest assessment is of the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Scotland’s agricultural sector.

The illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia impacts everyone in the food industry, from farmers to hauliers, processors to retailers.

We have established a short-life Food Security and Supply Taskforce, together with industry. The Taskforce met for the first time on 18 March and continues to do so.

It will seek to recommend, any short, medium and longer-term actions that can be taken to mitigate impacts, resolve supply issues and strengthen food security and supply in Scotland. It will report in due course.

Scottish Ministers remain clear in their commitment to support farmers and crofters.

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